


Show You Understand

by J_E_McCormick



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, I have a soft spot for R/Jehan friendship oops, M/M, mentions of and hints at depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 09:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/878412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_E_McCormick/pseuds/J_E_McCormick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a textiles project Jehan has to do. That’s how the tradition starts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Show You Understand

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a textiles project my friend is going to have to do, and her ideas for how to do it. Hopefully you guys understand too, because there is a lot of hinting but not really much ‘outright’ saying.

It starts with a textiles project Jehan has to do.

The class are instructed to make something representing an “obscure and covert” issue. Jehan makes what is originally a cloak, and on the outside there is a bright material with blooming fields of flowers. It’s the inside, though, that is important – the material is darker, and like an inverse of the outside, with wilting flowers, and dark letters stitched on to spell harmful, hateful words; useless, unwanted, burden, failure, disappointment. He presents it as a representation of mental illness, in particular depression.

He doesn’t show it to Les Amis, nor truly let them in on what he had been making for all those weeks.

What he does do, is give it to Grantaire.

The art student takes the bundle of bright fabric with a questioning smirk and a mildly teasing thanks, but when he unfolds it to see what it is and sees the inside, the smirk drops and he looks up at his roommate with wide, watering eyes. Jehan meets his gaze for a moment, and then Grantaire has flung himself into his arms, crying quietly into his shoulder.  Jehan wraps him in the cloak, but he turns it so that the positive side is on the inside, and the dying flowers and hidden thoughts are on the outside. He tilts Grantaire’s chin up so that the other man is looking at him.

“Inside-out.” Jehan murmurs, and Grantaire nods when he understands.

That’s how the tradition starts. The cloak becomes something more of a comfort blanket. Usually it stays, folded sunny-side-out, in Grantaire’s room, but when Grantaire is spiralling and falling and can barely pick himself up in the mornings, he wraps it around himself and curls up on their sofa. On those days, as soon as Jehan spots him, he walks over and hugs him tightly for a few minutes, before he goes to make tea and bring out a big packet of biscuits and cookies. Then he sits next to Grantaire, and turns the cloak-blanket inside out, and waits until Grantaire allows himself to turn his mind inside-out too.

Grantaire falls asleep in Jehan’s bed on those nights, his head pillowed on the folded cloak, and Jehan murmurs to him about how the positivity of the fabric will bleed through to his mind as he sleeps. Grantaire sometimes imagines he can hear Jehan’s kind, soft voice in his ear even on the days he doesn’t sleep beside him, which is why he so often has a pillow swaddled in the cloak, so he can nuzzle into it and imagine the happiness-osmosis it supposedly encourages.

They do this for years and Grantaire always keeps the cloak-blanket lying about. Sometimes it lies out in the front room, bundled up and out of the way – Jehan learns that this means he is having an up-turn, and doesn’t feel the need for its constant presence. Other times, it is folded up or swaddled on a pillow in Grantaire’s room, and Jehan knows this signals a turn. As soon as it is around Grantaire’s shoulders, they start the cycle again, with mugs of tea and biscuits and turning the cloak-blanket inside-out.

When Grantaire starts dating Enjolras, he takes to hiding the cloak out of his sight. He’s afraid that Enjolras won’t understand it, won’t understand the significance, won’t understand the comfort it brings and, in that way, won’t understand Grantaire. He hides it away like he hides himself away.

It happens one time that Grantaire forgets to hide the cloak away – it has been wrapped around his pillow for weeks, and so he’s bundled it up on the arm of their sofa to signal to Jehan the positive turn. Enjolras catches sight of it and regards it curiously, picking it up in its bundle, sunny-side-out.

“What’s this?” He asks Grantaire. Grantaire sputters for a moment, panicking.

“It’s… It’s an old project of Jehan’s. He gave it to me.” He manages eventually. Enjolras nods, shifting the material so it starts to spill down out of his hands, exposing the two sides. It takes him a moment to notice the inside, and when he does he stares at it for a few careful moments, eyes taking in every word and every dead flower, slowly turning it to look at the bright contrast of the outside, and then turning it back. He looks up to Grantaire, and his eyes are a little wide but his expression is controlled. He pauses for a moment, and Grantaire looks away, before he speaks softly.

“Did he make it with you in mind?” He enquires, his voice gentle. Grantaire shifts for a moment, refusing to look up at Enjolras.

“I think so.” He murmurs eventually. There is silence for a moment, before the cloak is wrapped around his shoulders, inside-out. He looks up at Enjolras, and the blonde pulls him close. He doesn’t say anything more, but the way he holds Grantaire and gently massages his scalp and strokes his curls tells him that Enjolras understands, and Grantaire cries with relief.


End file.
